Flow injection chemiluminescence analysis of phenolic compounds using the NCS-luminol system

A flow injection system coupled with two simple and sensitive chemiluminescence (CL) methods is described for the determination of some phenolic compounds. The methods are based on the inhibition effects of the investigated phenols on the CL signal intensities of N-chlorosuccinimide-KI-luminol (NCS-KI-luminol) and NCS-luminol systems. The influences of the chemical and hydrodynamic parameters on the decrease in CL signal intensities of NCS-KI-luminol and NCS-luminol systems for hydroquinone, catechol, and resorcinol, serving as the model compounds of analyte, were studied in the flow injection mode of analysis. Under the selected conditions, the proposed CL systems were used for the determination of some phenolic compound and analytical characteristics of the systems including calibration equation, correlation coefficient, linear dynamic range, limit of detection, and sample throughput. The limits of detection for hydroquinone, catechol, and resorcinol were 0.002, 0.01, and 0.3 μM using the NCS-KI-luminol system; for the NCS-luminol system these were 0.01, 0.17, and 1.6 μM, respectively. The relative standard deviation for 10 repeated measurements of 0.04, 0.06, and 1 μM of hydroquinone, catechol, and resorcinol were 1.9, 1.4, and 2.0%, respectively, with the NCS-KI-luminol system; for 0.2, 0.5, and 4 μM of hydroquinone, catechol, and resorcinol these were 2.6, 2.2, and 3.7%, respectively, using the NCS-luminol system. The method was applied to the determination of catechol in known environmental water samples with a relative error of less than 6%. A possible reaction mechanism of the proposed CL system is discussed briefly.